Stockholm riots leave Sweden's dreams of perfect society up in smoke

(Posted on 5/26/13 at 6:35 am)

Like the millions of other ordinary Swedes whom he now sees himself as one of, Mohammed Abbas fears his dream society is now under threat. When he first arrived in Stockholm as refugee from Iran in 1994, the vast Husby council estate where he settled was a mixture of locals and foreigners, a melting pot for what was supposed to be a harmonious, multi-racial paradise.

Two decades on, though, "white flight" has left only one in five of Husby's flats occupied by ethnic Swedes, and many of their immigrant replacements do not seem to share his view that a new life in Sweden is a dream come true. Last week, the neighbourhood erupted into rioting, sparking some of the fiercest urban unrest that Sweden has seen in decades, and a new debate about the success of racial integration.

"In the old days, the neighbourhood was more Swedish and life felt like a dream, but now there are just too many foreigners, and a new generation that has grown up here with just their own culture," he said, gesturing towards the hooded youths milling around in Husby's pedestrianised shopping precinct.

"Also, in Sweden you cannot hit your children to discipline them, and this is a problem for foreign parents. The kids can feel they can cause whatever trouble they want, and the police don't even arrest any of them most of the time." "We have tried harder than any other European country to integrate, spending billions on a welfare system that is designed to help jobless immigrants and guarantee them a good quality of life," said Marc Abramsson, leader of the National Democrats Party. "Yet we have areas where there are ethnic groups that just don't identify with Swedish society. They see the police and even the fire brigade as part of the state, and they attack them. We have tried everything, anything, to improve things, but it hasn't worked. It's not about racism, it's just that multi-culturalism doesn't recognise how humans actually function."

European authorities don't seem to care all that much. They are not arresting rioters, they are arresting people who tweet anti-muslim tweets.

quote:Meanwhile, in Britain, the constabulary of a nation where men are hacked to death on the street in broad daylight are arresting Tweeters who Tweet insufficiently culturally sensitive Tweets about the unfortunate incident – and sending three coppers to warn an 86-year old lady that the cheese wheel she makes for the annual cheese-rolling competition is a threat to public safety.

I have to say, I used to fear that we would become like Europe. But I can't help but look at Europe and see the rioting, see unapologetic fascists winning seats in parliament, see a monetary system in shambles, and hope that maybe we'll wake up and realize this is not a continent we wish to emulate in very many respects.

quote:You have a segment of our population now that would gladly trade freedom for a dictator, if he just tells them what they want to hear. Very disturbing.

Perhaps, but you see these neo-Nazi parties winning seats in Greece's national parliament, and my gosh, it was only a little over ten years ago that the major opposition candidate in France's presidential election was a fascist (and I mean an actual fascist, liberals, not Rick Perry or something hur dur) -- and he took nearly 1 in 5 votes.

It tells me that the gulf between socialism and fascism is simply not that wide.

If you freely allow people from a violent, crappy country into your nice, non violent country then odds are your country will slowly become violent and crappy. It isn't the land they come from that makes them how they are, it is the occupants of that land.

A new land will not change the way they act, no matter how many laws you pass. The only way to have multiculturalism is strict immigration laws that are enforced, which ensure that the immigrant is a person of quality character that will contribute to society.

I just can't wrap my head around the concept of immigrating to a country with a society and culture you have absolutely zero interest in being a part of. It has been a big problem in Europe for a while now though.